Local news is suffering right now but you can help change that
Dear BINJ Supporters and Potential Supporters,
I’m regularly asked how efforts at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ) are faring under a Trump administration. Most of the time I give my line that things haven’t changed very much for us, as we primarily dig into state and community happenings in blue New England. But the fuller, entire answer has been much more complex. Or at least it was until recently.
While BINJ has found some great major supporters and foundations to help us get up and running in these early years, it’s never been more clear that our strength in the long run will depend on readers and sustaining donors. Without you, we’re screwed. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as public radio and television have been drilling home this message for years. But unlike NPR and PBS, which are cleverly positioning for war against the Trump administration, from what our team has experienced in the past few months, local outlets are getting ignored in the rush to fund journalism. Which is insane, because in addition to the work that we continue to produce on topics that commercial outfits shy away from, we are developing the next reporters who will change the world at every level, from municipal to international.
You are already following BINJ on Medium where we host our sustainer program, so you’re our biggest hope. I know that it’s a huge responsibility, but local journalism is completely in your hands. While elite funders pass us up to fatten national nonprofit news ops that already have means, you can make a giant difference where it really counts.
I will be donating $1,000 of my tax return to BINJ (I do not take a salary and have never made money from my nonprofit), and while I understand that not everyone is in a position to give that much, I do ask that you donate at least $3/month to support local media.
Sincerely,
Chris Faraone, Editorial Director
BECOME A REPORTER SUPPORTER HERE:
https://medium.com/binj-reports/become-a-reporter-supporter-8f36321400a7
